(If you are subscribed to both The Wild Forgotten, and The Sketchbook Sanctuary, you’re going to get this post twice today. Sorry bout that, but I figure you’ll forgive me. It is my birthday after all, and I want to celebrate it with ALL of you!)
I am celebrating my big birthday!
I guess I am an adult now? Is that how it works?
I never take birthdays for granted, because I have lost too many people at too young an age not to be grateful to still be here to see beauty, and wish they still stood beside me (even though they are always in my heart).
When someone tells me it is their birthday, even someone I have not met before, I am instantly excited to celebrate them - I mean it is your one special day, right? If I know you personally, you have probably received a 5am Happy Birthday text from me, because I get really excited. I can’t help it. I don’t want to help it either.
Am I celebrating my birthday with any of YOU today too? Let me know - I would love to sing happy birthday to you too!
I get that same sense of excitement when I look into the eyes of a wild being. I know I will never know their birth date, but I can celebrate them every day for the special being that they are.
And I guess that is what making wildlife art is to me. A celebration. A constant, delighted celebration. We are here for such a short time, most of our animal kin are here for even shorter, and while we have our tree and rock and river clans to watch over us all for centuries, we can choose to celebrate being a (wild hearted) being every day, and celebrate the wild beings we get to share this brief moment of time with even more.
In celebrating we are connecting.
In celebrating we are connecting. We are finding reverence and respect, for them and ourselves, and we are engaging in an act of reciprocity. We get to acknowledge that we are not alone, even when it is hard and we feel so, so isolated.
Observing a wild being through a photo or video that you may not ever meet in real life is such a moment of unbridled joy and expansiveness, if you welcome it. And so you may start to feel differently about the little glimpses of wild you do get to see in your day - the sparrow, the crow, the cicada, the lizard. You get to start to see their individual personhood, and the incredible intricacies of their very beingness. You can’t help the awe that comes from that connection - and maybe you can start applying that to yourself a little too. You are, afterall, awesome. I am here to tell you that, often.
So I am sending this missive to say two things:
First, thanks for being on this journey of finding awe and wonder and connection to the wild world with me, and second, whether it is your birthday or not, I am celebrating you.
I am celebrating you and all of us wild-hearted and wild beings, made of the same stardust, and floating through space together on this absolutely stunning Earth. We have so much to celebrate every day. And if more of us celebrate the big and the little things more often, maybe the horrors of the world would be lessened, and those who only want to share or be a part of violence and oppression and pain will lose some power.
Making art and valuing connection with the wild is a tiny rebellious act. But together, those little acts become revolutionary, even in just a personal way.
I scheduled this post yesterday - because today I am in the bush with my family, surrounded by trees and wild beings and the laughter of my nephews. Today I will put my hands and feet in the loamy earth for you, maybe you could do the same for me, wherever you are. I will say hello to the currawong and the wallaby and possums I see for you, and I will be delighted by my cold nose and fingers as we sit around a campfire together. I’ll share some photos with you later.
And if you decide to come join me in Hedgerow, know I am extra special celebrating the adventure we are going on for the days and years to come. I get a little shiver of excitement every time I think about Hedgerow, to be honest.
Hello 50, I love you.
For so many reasons Natalie, this brought me a little cry. Tears of the beautiful sort. Happy, happy birthday, you exquisite soul, you. 🪄🪶✨
Dearest Natalie. Oh Happiest of days alongside the loamy earth, scented bush, good family and feathered friends about you. You do make everyday a birth day honoring the creative act itself, the manner, magic and sacredness by which marks, shapes, shine engage with paper, the magic of these pages which assit brain, hand, eye to see, beings to believe we too are made of such magic. Much gratitude